Post #24 - November 4, 2012 - Pingyao, China

And our misfortune continued into most of the next day...

It's Patty writing from our lovely private room in Pingyao. The sun is shining brightly through the big windows of our room, signifying that the sun will come out tomorrow even after a wretched 48 hours of life.

We got into Pingyao at about 7:30am yesterday morning. We were woken up by some very cute old locals who were yelling at us by the only thing they knew about us "Pingyao!". These same old men offered us their dinner the night before and we're doing their part to help us get acquainted with the whole sleeper train protocol in China, which I must say was an awesome experience even after going to bed in filthy/partly damp clothing. Once we got off our train we were greeted by something very familiar; sub-zero temperatures, which made Pingyao immediately remind us of home.  But that's where the similarities between here and home ended. It was frickin cold, probably about -10, and we were not dressed for the weather. We found the inside of a train station and talked with a local standing next us who was also escaping the cold, to see if he could direct us to our hostel. After 5 mins of trying to explain where we needed to get to, I think he finally understood. Then, this random guy came inside and and told us he was the driver for Harmony Guesthouse which is where we are staying in Pingyao. Not knowing whether to buy it, Jeff looked at the local and asked if it was alright to go with him and he nodded yes. I was still very skeptical that these guys were trustworthy, but especially skeptical when we got inside of his unmarked motorcycle with a wagon thing for us to sit in. It even took the guy 3 different tries to get the engine going on his bike! Fortunately, after 5 mins and paying the guy 20 Yuan we made it safely to our Guesthouse. The clever little guy, even dropped us off around the corner so that he could advise us that we owed him 20Yuan for the ride. At this point though, we were cold, desperate, and just happy to be alive so we paid him even though he also gets paid by the Guesthouse. So really the ride should have been free. But whatever.

Upon arriving at our Guesthouse we immediately paid for our 3 night accommodations and were told our room was not ready yet. The owner brought out a menu and we ended up having an unimpressive and relatively expensive breakfast. Once done, she told us the devastating news that the power was out! But, that our room was ready. We got to our room and pondered what the hell to do with ourselves. Our plans for the day were completely shot. We wanted to shower, do laundry, and book the next two weeks of our trip. This tells you how much we rely on power because we could do none of these things. The water would have been freezing for the shower, plus we had no clean/warm clothes to get into afterwards, the washing machine requires electricity, and so does the internet. Not to mention our room was frickin cold. We were stuck in our filthy clothes from the day before which had been showered in Beijing street juice. And we just couldn't escape the cold or our own stink, so what did we do? We literally sat in a corner of our room as self-proclaimed third class citizens, all in order to preserve the cleanliness of our warm, clean, king size bed. We didn't want to get near our clean bed with a ten foot pole. So two hours ticked by. If those 2 hours had been a movie you would have seen us in 3 positions, huddled beside the remnants of heat coming from our furnace and trying to read up on China and South East Asia. We did have a few good laughs about the ridiculousness of our luck, and funny enough, we reminded each other that before we set out on this journey we said to each other that we didn't want it be easy all the time. Stuff like this builds character and makes you realize what princesses and princes we all are back in North America.

It was around noon when we decided we had enough of sitting in our room and decided to venture out to find a restaurant the book recommended. We found it somehow operating with no electricity and walked in. It too was freezing cold, but the food turned out to be delicious! So, not every part of the day was sh$$.

We made it back to the Guesthouse after lunch hoping and praying the power was back on, but something told us this was going to be a long, crappy day we would just have to ride out. And it was. After lunch we went back into our room which was increasingly colder and did the same thing - sat around and read our books and also snuck in a nap. It started to get darker and colder and we were actually very worried we would have to sleep in the same clothes again, in our clean bed and possibly freeze our bums off that night. We went back to the main reception area of the Guesthouse and decided we should have some drinks. It would have been pitch black in there if it had not been for candles lit all around. But, amidst all the discomforts, we managed to feel comfortable and relaxed and we even kind of savoured the moment because all in all, it wasn't so bad. Things can always get worse, and in the end we're lucky to be alive and be on this trip at all. It was as if something was trying to teach us a lesson, because just as our bitterness had turned into appreciation for the experience we were told the power was back on in our rooms. This was at around 7 pm which was just in time to shower and get ready for bed.

Hopefully that's the last of nights like those, but if not, we're ready for them, and we'll greet them with a smile. It's about the experiences after all. And this was one we won't soon forget.

Have a good day back at home.

Patty